Posts Tagged ‘Children Art and Artists’

Week of the Young Child – Part 3

Saturday, April 20th, 2013

Rounding out my series of posts celebrating The Week of the Young Child™ and Brain Building in Progress Week…

The BBIP campaign wants everyone to know that “A knowledgeable community and well-qualified education workforce give children the support they need to succeed in school and life.”

Though nothing can replace the knowledge I’ve gained through hands-on experiences with amazing students, mentors, and colleagues, there are a few resources connected with the approaches and philosophies that shape my approach to teaching and parenting. Here are a few of my favorites that hope might inspire you too:

First, a few books I reference multiple times a year:

The Eric Carle Museum

The Hundred Languages of Children Edited by Carolyn Edwards, Lella Gandini, and George Forman.

Childern, Art, Artists

Children, Art, Artists: The Expressive Languages of Children, the Artistic Language of Alberto Burri,  Edited by By Vea Vecchi and Claudia Giudici.

 Yet: The Drama of Drawing

It’s Not a Bird Yet by Ursula Kolbe

A Whole New Mind

A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink

These are the books I’ll be looking at next. Have you read any of them?

Books in the Art Studio

Being a visual learning in the digital age means I’m quick to turn to the internet for inspiration. There are so many great sites and blogs I could make a long list, but I’ll just share 3 for now:

Visual Thinking Strategies

Tinkerlab

Not Just Cute

 

The Eric Carle Museum

We do alot of work at The Carle is in support of teachers, parents and caretakers to foster a love of learning that flows between home, school and community.  I hope you’ll continue to see us as a resource for informing and inspiring the ways you live with or teach young children!

What are the resources that inspire and inform you?

Institute for Educators 2012 – Part 1

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

The Eric Carle Museum

On July 14-16, The Carle, in collaboration with Smith College, hosted an institute for educators.  Learning through the Arts and Literature: A Collaboration Celebrating Innovation and Inspiration in International Education  featured presenters from Pistoia, Italy, the University of Florence, and local educators.

at The Eric Carle Museum

On the third day of the institute, attendees heard from Lella Gandini and Cathy Topal about materials as provocation and inspiration.  Reflecting on the roles of teachers  and children as researchers, their presentation  shared images of children exploring paper napkins from the book Children, Art, and Artists  (Reggio Children) and words from Vea Vecchi.  Setting the tone for the 3 concurrent studio sessions (paper was the theme) directly following, Kathy said this about exploring materials:

Childern,Art,Artists

“Its not about making something, but about how it looks here, how it looks there. (Working with materials is about) the pleasure of moving things around.”   With that we all split off into various spaces of the Museum.

Paper Possibilities at The Eric Carle Museum

Paper Bridge at The Eric Carle Museum

Cathy Topal facilitated a session around exploring the possibilities of white copy paper then engineering it into a bridge spanning 18″.

at The Eric Carle Museum

paper spider garment created at an institute for educators at The Eric Carle Museum

paper handbags at The Eric Carle Museum

Colleagues from Pistoia invited their session attendees to fashion imaginative garments and accessories from many different kinds of paper.

thread at The Eric Carle Museum

and I facilitated an exploration called Thread & Paper.  Check back tomorrow to see what happened in my session!